An investigator sits watch outside a strip mall. It is about 9:15 a.m. when he sees two women drive up and enter a massage business.

He stays, waits and watches. Throughout the day, man after man enters the building. Besides the two who work there, no women go into the business.

Yanhang Lin(Photo: Stearns County Jail)

Police had heard about this place. They’d received tips saying there was an abnormal amount of traffic at the massage business and it was operating at odd hours — potential signs of sex trafficking.

And then there was the more unmistakable information. One man said he went to the business for a massage. Toward the end, the masseuse "grabbed his penis and stated that for an extra $100 she would continue."

He declined and reported the incident to the police.

The investigator’s long day in the parking lot isn’t remote in time or place; it happened in Waite Park in May outside Riverwood Massage and Body Works. Yanhang Lin, the registered owner, was arrested May 10 and charged with second-degree sex trafficking and promoting prostitution.

Riverwood Massage and Body Works is not the only massage business in Central Minnesota suspected of acting as a front for sex trafficking. According to a grant proposal compiled by Stearns County officials and accepted by the Minnesota Office of Justice Programs in late December, illicit massage businesses are operating in Central Minnesota at an alarming rate.

It's the next step in combating sex trafficking in Central Minnesota. In 2016, law enforcement agencies conducted a series of stings and arrested dozens of men who were trying to purchase sex from women in hotel rooms.

To men who buy sex, illicit massage businesses can be enticing alternatives to meeting trafficked women in hotels or apartments. The businesses, because of the inherent physicality of massage, can offer a sense of plausible deniability.

To women who are trafficked, it can mean a lifetime of damage. Victims have layers of trauma that make rehabilitation — including finding housing, jobs, education and safety — difficult, sometimes seemingly impossible.

The problem is not isolated to the St. Cloud area. A recent study by the Polaris Project, a nonprofit organization that combats modern slavery and human trafficking, found approximately 9,000 illicit massage businesses operate in the United States. The businesses bring in about $2.5 billion per year.

Connecting men with the sex trade is as easy as knowing where to look. And sometimes, the illicit trade is happening in plain sight.

Riverwood Massage & Body Works is shown Friday, May 11, in the Riverwood Mall in Waite Park.

(Photo: Jason Wachter, jwachter@stcloudtimes.com)

The storefront next door

There are 39 massage businesses licensed for 2018 in Waite Park and St. Cloud, according to city licensing data reviewed by the St. Cloud Times. Most of them operate as legitimate clinical massage therapy businesses.

However, a Times investigation has found at least seven have been regularly listed on websites known for advertisements of sex for sale.

Waite Park Police Chief Dave Bentrud emphasized many of the massage businesses in the area are legitimate, but police have "learned that some are a front for sexual activity."

"We've known that for a while," he said. "(Illicit massage businesses) are out there. It is just another way for the sex trafficking to occur."

The proliferation of sex trafficking in Central Minnesota, regardless of venue, led to the creation of the Central Minnesota Human Trafficking Task Force. The task force is a partnership between organizations including the Stearns County Sheriff's Office, St. Cloud Police Department, Waite Park Police Department, Stearns County Attorney's Office and the Central Minnesota Sexual Assault Center.

The task force had been operating as a collaboration for a while, Bentrud said, and has many arrests under its belt, but with the Minnesota Office of Justice Programs grant, the force was officially formed in March.

"It's just an ongoing battle to deal with sex trafficking," said Bentrud. "The demand is still there."

Two investigators work full-time on the task force, according to Bentrud. One is from the Waite Park Police Department and one is from the St. Cloud Police Department. An investigator from Stearns County has been assigned half-time, and a data analyst supports their work.

For low risk, Google it

As with hotel-based sex trafficking, finding sex for sale in an illicit massage business is as easy as logging on.

St. Cloud has 23 licensed massage businesses, according to city licensing data tracked by the St. Cloud Health and Inspections Department. Of those, the Times found at least four have repeatedly had advertisements on Rubmaps.com and Backpage.com.

In Waite Park, 16 massage businesses are licensed by the city this year. The Times found three of them were listed — most repeatedly — on Rubmaps, Backpage or both in March.

Backpage, a classified ad website repeatedly accused of enabling sex trafficking, was seized by federal authorities and shut down April 6.

Rubmaps bills itself as a user-review site for massage businesses and practitioners; it also contains advertising for "erotic massages."

“(Illicit massage businesses) are out there. It is just another way for the sex trafficking to occur.”

WAITE PARK POLICE CHIEF DAVE BENTRUD

The Times attempted to reach the registered owner of Rupmaps, Georgios Veniamindis, but all phone numbers available for Veniamindis were out-of-country and were not in service in early May.

The ease of finding sex for sale on the internet, and the cover provided by a business that involves touch and nudity or partial nudity, can combine to offer buyers a sense of safety.

And people looking to buy sex do care about minimizing their risk, said Lauren Martin of the University of Minnesota.

Martin was the lead author and researcher of a 2017 study called “Mapping the Demand,” which tracked the demand for sex trafficking in Minnesota.

The risk of being found out was among the top barriers to buying sex, according to Rochelle Keyhan, director of disruption strategies at the Polaris Project.

People enter the sex marketplace through a variety of avenues, according to Martin. Many people find out about illicit massage parlors on websites such as Backpage and Rubmaps.

Men also discover illicit massage businesses and other forms of sex trafficking by word of mouth, according to Martin, which leaves no telltale browser history. But people who use word of mouth already tend to be more familiar with the market for buying sex than those who shop for sex online.

The way sex is advertised for sale also provides some cover for purchasers. Ads on websites commonly use an emoji-based shorthand, or a code. Emojis may imply the age of the person being trafficked or particular acts the victim may perform, studies have found.

The obfuscation affects how law enforcement and courts can criminally charge traffickers and sex buyers. Officials must be able to show a suspect "willfully and purposefully purchased sex," said Martin. It is harder to prove the person sought to buy sex when ad messages are written in encoded emojis.

Still, the ads commonly emphasize “new girls just arrived,” or "nice and friendly girls” or similar phrases, surrounded by emojis.

A Backpage ad for Riverwood Massage and Body Works on March 16 read: "100% Sexy GIRLS” and “Professional SERVICE” with fire emojis and a telephone number.

Minnesota an outlier

Minnesota is one of four states that does not regulate massage therapy at a statewide level, according to officials.

That means regulation falls to local governments, which can create loopholes traffickers use to their advantage.

Without a statewide licensing system, traffickers can move to different cities or counties and continue to operate, said Ron Precht, senior manager of communications at the American Massage Therapy Association.

“Is it really hidden? Or is it something right in front of our eyes, and we just turn away?”

Chuck Derry, co-founder of the Gender Violence Institute in Clearwater

Both St. Cloud and Waite Park license massage businesses — Waite Park started in 2016 — but other area municipalities, including St. Joseph, Sauk Rapids and Sartell do not. Stearns County also does not regulate massage businesses.

It is hard to say if illicit massage businesses are increasing in the area or if increased awareness has led to more discoveries, said Rebecca Kotz, human trafficking services coordinator at the Central Minnesota Sexual Assault Center.

Trafficking through massage businesses "has been happening this whole time," said Kotz, "it's just that especially law enforcement has more dedicated resources to take on these cases."

Businesses near where sex trafficking in illicit massage parlors happens are often aware that something is wrong, said Bentrud, and it is upsetting to them.

Chuck Derry, co-founder of the Gender Violence Institute in Clearwater, consults on local john schools for men caught buying sex in Central Minnesota and reiterated that point.

Derry said illicit massage businesses have been present since he began working in the field in the 1980s and 1990s. "That has always been there . . . And the coercion and violence is there," he said.

"Is it really hidden?" Derry said of trafficking. "Or is it something right in front of our eyes, and we just turn away?"

A rubmaps.com page shown Tuesday, May 15, on a laptop computer.

(Photo: Jason Wachter, jwachter@stcloudtimes.com)

Alone, far from home and exploited

Cynthia Terlouw, co-director and founder of Terebinth Refuge, a Waite Park service provider for victims of trafficking that opened April 3, said while she has not directly worked with victims of sex trafficking in illicit massage businesses, she has heard of it happening in the area.

Any type of legal business can be a front for trafficking, said Kotz. "Whether it's a massage parlor or a strip club or a modeling agency . . . It's all very similar how the grooming happens, regardless of where it takes place."

And regardless of the venue in which victims are trafficked, they have similar experiences. Victims and survivors of sex trafficking have most likely missed schooling, have few job skills, often have criminal records and may be addicted.

"Drug addiction is pretty common with the women in this area," said Terlouw. "That is often how they cope."

"It's a very horrific life," she said. "You have had layers and layers and layers of trauma."

Illicit massage businesses are often connected to international networks, according to authorities. Investigators traced the Backpage ad placed for Riverwood Massage and Body Works to China.

Most women who are trafficked through massage parlors nationwide are from China and Korea, according to the Polaris Project, and are in their 30s, 40s or 50s.

Many of these women voluntarily chose to come to the U.S. and then responded to ads for what appeared to be legitimate work, said Esther Lai, an independent consultant for the Safe Center Li. The center, located near Long Island, New York, helps women who have been trafficked.

Victims do not always associate their situations with trafficking because they made the choice to come to the United States.

"These women borrow a lump sum — a huge amount of money from friends or a loan company — and they are not just able to go back," said Lai. "They still have to pay back the loan."

Traffickers use that debt to control the women. Traffickers also commonly provide housing and transportation, later telling the women they owe them for those services.

Traffickers use the women's fear of deportation, fear of law enforcement and shame to control them. Sometimes, they threaten the women's families.

“It's a very horrific life. You have had layers and layers and layers of trauma.”

Cynthia Terlouw, co-director and founder of Terebinth Refuge

"We need to give (victims and survivors) psycho-education about what (human trafficking) means," said Lai. "What they see in China is very different than what the traffickers are doing here."

Illicit massage businesses are also connected to nearly every state in the county. Traffickers often move victims to somewhere in the middle of the country, where a community of people from their home country is less likely to be found.

Traffickers move victims every two to six weeks, according to a Polaris Project report. "That is part of the isolation and the goal," said Keyhan.

Victims often have few ways to escape. "You're talking about a woman who really has no options," Terlouw said.

Professionals in the fight against sex trafficking say victims of trafficking in illicit massage businesses have different vulnerabilities than other victims because of their often-different demographics.

That means they need services unique to their experiences.

"I've been researching all these years," said Lai of culturally relevant services, "but honestly it is very limited."

Not only is it difficult for Lai to find language training for victims she works with, but it is even more difficult to find jobs for them.

"We need a lot more services and supports for foreign nationals," said Martin. "A lot of people involved in the massage parlors are foreign nationals."

"The holy grail provider would be a service provider from their home country," said Keyhan — someone victims can feel "safe and related to."

Officials have found victims of trafficking at massage businesses often will not answer how many times they engaged in commercial sex. Instead, law enforcement needed to ask about living conditions, how many hours the victim worked, how the victim immigrated and what the pay was before getting information about the sex work.

"There's definitely other issues that come up with things like immigration, cultural barriers," said Kotz.

But the role of an advocate doesn't change.

The Central Minnesota Sexual Assault Center offers support and safety for victims of sex trafficking, including free support counseling; education about consent, coercion, and sex trafficking; and help with safety.

If someone needs a harassment order or a protection order, for example, the center will help victims and survivors file those.

Terebinth Refuge offers classes, housing and help for victims and survivors of trafficking. The organization seeks to address every aspect of the women's lives, said Terlouw.

Terebinth Refuge offers a shelter program and a transitional housing program, in addition to providing assistance with sobriety, education, health and more.

"We see a lot of people who have been trafficked or exploited that do not identify (as being trafficked or exploited)," Kotz said.

"Exploitation and trafficking is happening to people that they know, and it is a lot more common than people think."

If someone is in danger, call 911. If you are worried someone is involved in trafficking, advocates suggest sharing these resources with the person, or reaching out to the Central Minnesota Sexual Assault Center for information and guidance.

Signs of an illicit massage business

The following signs can be indicators of sex trafficking in illicit massage businesses, according to the Polaris Project. If you see something consistent with human trafficking, you can contact the Central Minnesota Human Trafficking Task Force at 320-259-0249.

Listed massage prices below market level

Excessive hours

People living in the business

Primarily male clientele

Locked front doors during business hours

Regular rotation of women

Advertising on Rubmaps.com or Backpage.com

Covered windows

Follow Clairissa Baker on Twitter @clairissabaker and email her at cmbaker@stcloudtimes.com.